A huge fire razed the students’ quarters at the St. Joseph’s Girls High School in Kitale, Trans Nzoia County on Tuesday night resulting in 41 students being rushed to the hospital.
The fire was reported to have started at around 8pm. Sources indicate that the girls in the school had just concluded celebrations of the good performance of their school in the 2018 KCSE examinations.
“We were having our evening meal then we went to class and at around 7:50pm we heard shouts made from the Form Four blocks. We ran out to see what was happening and discovered fire had broken out at the dormitory section,” stated one of the students.
A section of a dormitory and other property worth thousands of shillings were destroyed.
Speaking at the Kitale Level Four Hospital, Dr. Dennis Nyangingi informed that a majority of the students did not suffer any serious injuries and are likely to be discharged on Wednesday.
While confirming the incident, he stated, “We have received 41 students from St. Joseph Girls High School after a fire incident.”
Dr. Nyangingi also indicated that the fire adversely affected most of the students since they inhaled a lot of smoke, which could easily be toxic to the body and result in adverse effects on health.
“They inhaled the fumes but we managed to stabilise most of them. We have three or four still in bad condition they are recuperating in the wards,” communicated Dr. Nyangingi.
Teachers and students of the neighbouring St. Joseph’s Boys High School had rushed to the scene to help put out the fire.
Fire-fighters from the town also responded swiftly to a call for help and successful contained the fire.